So, yeah, uhm, I bought an iPad 2 today. I still don't think anyone really needs a tablet, but that doesn't mean I didn't want one. I wanted to wait until the HP TouchPad was announced, but now that it has, it seems it won't be coming to The Netherlands any time soon. As such, the iPad 2 it was. A few quick fist impressions.

Im an Apple fan, i love their computers and was a convert in 2005. I loved the iPhone when it was first introduced. However the iPad i didn't quite get. To me it seemed to under powered to replace a notebook and too large to be portable, i had an iPhone and it seemed to fit the bill.

However i changed jobs and my new job meant about 1hr by train instead of 1hr by car. So i was in the market for a notebook/netbook for the train ride. The two important considerations where battery life and an always on internet connection. I decided to give the iPad another look, after playing with one i though i'd try it, ebay seemed to offer a good return if i didn't like it.

However i get it, it's only when you own one you realise how versatile and useful these devices are. I find the touch keyboard very easy to type on and can do some pretty hefty emailing, light documents. It's robust and handles the daily commute with ease, it works well in a work environment and the media abilities are second to none (for me it's makes more sense as i already made an effort to put all my media through iTunes).

For the naysayers i say give it a considered look, not just a brief look. It's really hard to describe how useful these devices are, there is no way i would be without one.

It will never replace my iMac 07, but then when i brought my netbook and macbook 06 i never expected those to replace the iMac either, they have always been considered secondary devices.

The only thing i would change is file storage, i love dropbox and it works really well. however the main problem is getting files back onto dropbox, downloading is a breeze. So for example i can download and edit a word document but i can't get it back on to dropbox without doing it manually when i get back to a desktop computer.

If you find yourself needing to do a lot of typing, there are a couple of different hard covers available that include a hardware keyboard. The case pops off the screen, slides underneath the screen and turns it into a "laptop" formfactor.

All that's missing is to include an extra battery in the keyboard part, so that it charges the iPad while connected.

thanks, i did consider one of the hard cases with the built in keyboard but so far the virtual keyboard is doing the job. Although i have been hankering for an iPad case with built in notepad and stationary holder, a complete mobile office